NEW UWS LANARKSHIRE CAMPUS WELCOMES STUDENTS

15
Oct
2018

HFD Property Group (HFD) have now completed the development of the new University of the West of Scotland (UWS) Lanarkshire Campus, and the buildings are now home to UWS staff and students.

The buildings opened officially to students on the 3rd of September and in reaching that milestone UWS has established one of the UK’s ‘greenest’ university campus’, drawing all of it’s electricity from Blantyre Muir Wind Farm via an innovative power purchase agreement established by HFD to secure dedicated renewable power for the campus.

Developed by HFD Property Group, the carbon neutral development incorporates a variety of other sustainability features such as rain water harvesting, solar panels, intelligent LED lighting & building management, electric car charging points, two new bus routes and 100 cycle spaces.

The buildings which were developed speculatively as the ‘EcoCampus’ to shell and core, have now been completely transformed with the addition of a connecting glass atrium. The impressive 3-storey glass atrium known as ‘the Street’ allows students and staff to circulate freely between the buildings which form the new Lanarkshire campus. Uniting the buildings in this way delivers UWS with an exciting flexible space for socialising, performances, graduation dinners, and studying. ‘The Street’ contains a coffee shop, video wall, Campus reception, and two stage rigs complete with lighting and sound systems. Twin full 3 storey feature stairs bookend ‘the Street’ providing access to the upper floor teaching areas, with open balconies offering unique views over the busy Street below.

The property is let to UWS for 35 years and the investment was purchased by Aviva for it's Lime Property Fund in December 2017. HFD's Property Management division will continue to manage the campus on behalf of the Fund and is doing this in concert with the UWS Estates Team. The partnership approach embarked on at commencement of the project has been embedded in the ethos of the teams that have worked across it and this is continuing into the operational phase. Matt Bellshaw, HFD Property Group, said: “We are delighted to have completed this unique project and have enjoyed working closely with all of our partners to deliver a new home in Lanarkshire for UWS. Seeing the property complete and in use by students is hugely rewarding, even better is the strong positive feedback from staff and students. Unlike many developers HFD’s role often extends beyond completion of the project, in this instance we are thrilled to continue our partnership with both UWS & Aviva into the buildings operational phase, led by our Property Management division."

Graham Black, UWS Estates, said: “Our new Lanarkshire Campus represents one of the UK’s most advanced learning facilities which is great news for UWS students, colleagues and stakeholders.The ultra modern buildings and environmental credentials combine with our innovative and flexible learning and research spaces, to deliver a university campus that is an example of outstanding practice for the development of new educational spaces. The partnership approach is a key feature of the projects success and demonstrates ‘the art of the possible’ in terms of public sector and private sector collaboration.”